As Republicans try to shrink the number of federal government employees, they’ve found one role where they would actually like to have a bigger workforce: air traffic controllers.
The declining number of air traffic controllers is an issue that has been simmering for decades, but last month’s fatal crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, or DCA, brought national attention to flight safety issues, including this shortage. Air traffic controllers have been leaving the work in droves for years, often due to stress related to the job. But while there is bipartisan consensus that there’s a problem, there’s no agreement on a solution.
“Let’s just be honest, 56 is really not that old,” Rep. Tony Wied, who serves on the House’s Aviation subcommittee, told NOTUS. “And if someone feels that they’re capable of doing the job longer than that age, they should be able to do it. And, we have the benefit of having people that are more experienced.”
He was speaking about the mandatory retirement age of 56. The job has a rigid window for potential hires, who must apply by age 30. If they make the cut, they can spend years training before they are approved to work on their own in some of the more complex facilities.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced last week he would offer air traffic controllers who want to work past the mandatory retirement age of 56 the option to stay. During an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, Duffy said that he has the “authority” to offer controllers “the chance to stay longer, past the mandatory retirement age of 56, pay them more, give them a bonus, keep them on the job, make the system safer.”
It’s a proposal with some traction as a possible solution, as lawmakers largely agree that a more nuanced retirement system for air traffic controllers is needed rather than keeping a blanket retirement system.
One lawmaker said that members of Congress can relate.
“Well, you look at members of Congress that are up in age, and they continuously embarrass themselves, and they have no business being there,” Rep. Tim Burchett, who’s also a member of the subcommittee, told NOTUS. “And then you look at some people who are the same age but can function perfectly. So I think it really just has to do with testing and their abilities, and not so much their age.”
Elaine Chao, secretary of transportation during Donald Trump’s first administration, backed Duffy’s proposal.
She told NOTUS in a statement that she “supports Secretary Duffy’s effort” to allow controllers to serve longer, adding that it’s “a reform that should be considered.”
There’s immense pressure to do something after the DCA crash in January between an American Airlines passenger jet and a military Black Hawk helicopter that killed more than 60 people. The New York Times first reported that only one air traffic controller was on duty to guide both helicopters and some planes from the airport, a task typically involving two people. The cause of the crash is still unknown.
But the proposal also has its critics, including the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. It has called Duffy’s solution ineffective in addressing the staffing crisis and says a better solution would be to focus on “a long-term commitment to hiring and training and the retention of the experience of all the highly skilled, highly trained air traffic controllers.”
The union said that by its count, only 49 air traffic controllers across 35 facilities will reach age 56 in the next year.
“This is not enough to address the nationwide staffing shortage,” NATCA said in a statement. “To put this in context, there are approximately 10,800 certified professional controllers working throughout the country which is 3,600 short of what is needed to fully staff the National Airspace System.”
In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration said its number of air traffic controllers is a “top priority.” In September, the agency announced it had hired more than 1,800 air traffic controllers in the last fiscal year and, at the time, reported having more than 14,000 air traffic controllers.
“We continually evaluate air traffic control staffing needs at every facility based on various factors, including traffic volume and complexity,” the statement to NOTUS said.
One former air traffic controller, Stephen Abraham, told NOTUS that he thought Duffy’s proposal was simply a “Band-Aid,” and he added that he believes that the FAA should do more recruitment at universities.
When Abraham hit age 54, he said he realized why the retirement mandate was in place.
“As an air traffic controller, you make multiple decisions every minute,” Abraham said. “The level of thought process for me later in the last 12 to 18 months of my career was more challenging. I don’t think I made them as rapidly. It felt like it required a greater level of concentration. I had to think harder, and I was more fatigued when I was done.”
Sen. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat, told NOTUS that he believes raising the retirement age is worth discussing.
“I want to hear from the union,” he said. “I want to hear from the workers. I want to hear from their managers. Certainly, seeing the number of near misses we’ve had, you’d hate to lose experienced people. What I’ve been told is a lot of them would like to stay. So we should be looking at that.”
Several of his Democratic colleagues similarly wanted more information. Sen. Tammy Baldwin told NOTUS that lawmakers need to be “creative” when it comes to resolving the air traffic controller shortage.
She later told NOTUS that she had looked into the issue some more.
“I’m going to have to look carefully at the issue of retirement age,” Baldwin said. “But I know that a number have already spoken out since Secretary Duffy made that proposal, suggesting that we proceed carefully and examine it thoroughly.”
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Torrence Banks is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the title of a lawmaker. It is Rep. Tim Burchett.